Trying Something New

I have always been a sucker for trying new recipes. Once I made a cake that had sausage as one of its main ingredients. The ones who tried it said the spices did not cover up the taste of the meat. Oh well.

The other day I saw a recipe for meat loaf from Cracker Barrel. Had to try it. Very simple and the head of the household liked it. I'll make it again.

Cracker Barrel Meat Loaf

2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
32 Ritz crackers, crushed
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 oz. shredded cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 lb. ground beef

Beat eggs. add milk and crackers. Stir in onions and cheese. Add beef and mix well. Shape into a loaf.
Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes. Add topping and bake 15 - 20 minutes longer.

Topping:
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. mustard

I skipped the topping.

Grocery Shopping

I finally made it to the store. Not the early, before sunrise trip that I had planned but about ten thirty a.m.
The place was not crowded. There were lots of parking spaces. Tuesday morning must be a good time to go.

I went alone! For the first time since I can't remember when, I suggested Lee stay home. He didn't want to but finally said ok. I was there about half an hour, got everything on my list and spent less that $60.  Usually we shell out a lot more than that.

For a surprise lunch, I went to Mickey D's and got him a cheeseburger, small fries and a large coke.
I finished our chili.

Tonight I'll try a new recipe that sounds yummy. We'll see.

Oops

This is the morning I was going to get out EARLY and go to the store before the crowds arrived.

It's  fifteen dang degrees out there. Not even sure the van will start at that temperature.

Maybe tomorrow.

Sunday

Usually I wake up about 5:00 a.m. and stay up. Not today.  Back to bed and slept till 8:30. That means I spent almost eleven hours sleeping.

I think that's too much.

Tool Chest

My dad was born in 1898. This was his tool chest when he was a boy. There is a separate wooden tray which is holding some old brown marbles, a pair of his very small leather shoes and a hair ornament from his mother.

I wonder what tools were included. By the time I received it, they were gone.

The chest itself appears to be oak. Maybe I should google Boys Union Tool Chest.

Here is a description under a photo like the one above:

In the early 1830s, Rufus Bliss opened Bliss Manufacturing Company in Rhode Island. Bliss became famous at the turn of the 20th century for making children's toys, including lawn tennis and croquet sets. The Boys Union Tool Chest was advertised in the 1911 Bliss catalog as an exact imitation of an adult's tool chest. This was made of a weathered oak or chestnut finish, and the tools were for practical use.

Scams Are Everywhere

We get lots of phone calls. With caller ID in place, we do not answer most of them because they are from places in the United States where we know no one. If the calls are legitimate, they will leave a message. If they do not, I have not wasted my time to answer their call.

Today in the mail we received a weird letter. Through the window in the envelope, only my husband's first name appeared. No last name. The address was correct. The contents informed us that we now qualify to permanently eliminate all future Timeshare Maintenance Fees.

We do not, nor have we ever had a Timeshare. They have made several attempts to contact us. (Perhaps one of the unanswered calls?) This may be their last attempt. We even have an account reference number. If they do not hear from us soon, they cannot guarantee qualification.

We don't plan to call their number  "at our earliest convenience."

I guess we just won't qualify.

No Noodles

Yesterday I planned to make a tuna noodle casserole. I had seen part of a package of noodles in the cupboard. Well, I looked in all the cupboards and they had disappeared. I had rice so that'll do.

I made a huge amount because we both like it and don't mind leftovers.

The result was he didn't like it - better with noodles,  he says.

So guess what I had for breakfast. Fried rice/tuna with scrambled egg included. It wasn't bad.

I think I'll be freezing some casserole today.

A Warm Spell

It's thawing out west in Kansas and it will be 56 here this afternoon.

Sadly I will be getting a treatment indoors at a place that is not a preferred spot to go these days - the hospital. It's a regular thing. Too bad they can't come to the house and plug in an IV.

Hope the flu bugs stay away.

Stacks of Holders

Using up my yarn making pot holders is almost accomplished. All I have left in the supply is parts of  skeins of black, green and zebra. One last task and I'll be out of yarn!

I do not plan to  venture to WalMart to buy more during this flu event. I may have to find a new hobby for the rest of the winter. 

Maybe some deep cleaning?

What's Wrong -

with this picture?

I almost did it last week but this morning my sleepy mind and eyes finally did it.

The coffee basket was on the drain board  and the paper filter went directly into the pot.

The coffee tastes ok.

I haven't checked the pot and cup for grounds yet.

Disappointment

This morning there was a gorgeous red/orange sunrise!

I grabbed my phone and dashed (toddled) outside to get a photo.

Well, the camera did not quite capture the glorious colors.

Better camera?

Put on Your Glasses

The evidence that I almost brushed my teeth this morning with Cortizone is shown here.  Red, white and blue are  popular colors in marketing.

One More CC

Yes, Closed Captioning is still turned on. Sometimes I believe I watch too much tv but I actually do other things in between catching weird stuff on television.

Chutzpah translated into Closed Captioning:  Shuts paw.  Pronunciation is given at dictionary.com as rhyming with "foot spa."

I love words.

Color Selection

Using up old yarn makes for some unusual color combinations. These three skeins were "left over" so I thought they might be ok.

After I had started, the word bilious came to mind. I thought it meant, when referring to colors, unpleasing, not ordinary or ugly.

The dictionary's small print tells me that bilious means suffering from disordered liver function and  especially an excessive secretion of bile.

So how does that strike you early in the morning?

Well?

A Confusion of Words

Seeing a post of chenille bedspreads on Facebook the other day brought back a memory from a long time ago.

I loved suits. I thought they were so neat and looked professional. I was working at the time and had several but thought I wanted one with a shorter jacket. (No belly bulge then.)

So I went to one of our most elegant stores in town, Pegues. As I was looking through the rack of suits, a sales person asked if she could help me.

"Yes, do you have an suits in the style of Chanel?"

The look I got from her made me think she was highly disturbed. I realized later that she thought I was nuts.

"No, we don't have anything in chenille."

I'm sure she thought I didn't know how to pronounce the type of bedspread she thought I was looking for.

Pot Holder

If the red were a little more red, you could say these were the German colors of their flag.

I'm using up what yarn I have making pot holders. Mindless work while watching TV!

nothing new here

It's cold and snowing lightly. The only change is the snow will stop, it will get much colder and the wind chill will be Awful.

More notes from Closed Captioning:

Vehement mind for Vietnam.

This could be a whole new hobby - looking for unusual translations on CC.

Fading Mugs

We received these mugs twenty-seven years ago from our daughter-in-law after our first granddaughter was born!

We have used them a lot! They both have a chip and the red paint has faded - Love on the left and Grandpa on the right!

I guess at their age (as cups) they are lucky to still be here.


Same for us.

Closed Captioning

For some reason the tv in my computer room has the closed captioning option activated.

Last week I pressed an innocent looking triangular yellow button and lost all channels and watched snow for quite some time before my smart husband came in and "fixed" it.

So now I'm afraid to try to decommission CC.

I see some interesting spellings. I don't know how those words get on the screen. Is it an actual human typing what they hear or is it a computer with talk to text?

The funniest one I saw today was "knee oh Nazis."

Golden Dollar

I didn't even know we had a gold dollar. I well remember silver dollars and it was so neat to get one as a gift on special occasions! Then we had the Susan B. Anthony dollar that didn't last long. It looked too much like a quarter.

And now we have James Madison honored on the $1.00 coin.

Maybe if Ms. Anthony's coin had been golden, it would have been more popular. We'll never know.

Barry Manilow

I liked his songs in the late '70's. He's still a fairly good singer. I think I went to three concerts, two in Wichita and one in Salina.

I took this one with my Canon 35 mm. No flash. They weren't so strict about camera use then.

On Being 86 3/4

It takes longer to do everything.

I'm glad our son gave me a computer almost thirty years ago. I don't think I could learn to use it now.

Most situations don't bother me too much. (There are some exceptions.)

I notice errors when dealing with stores, employees etc. more than I used to. Maybe there are more errors or they just happen to us.  I know I make my share so I can't complain!

When I use my cell phone as a camera, I think of Dick Tracy and his two-way wrist radio that was an unheard of item, only available in the funny papers.

So thankful for Skype so I can see people in other states.

I don't miss traveling but wish it was easier to get from here to there to see our family. Waiting for "Beam me up, Scotty."

I still miss my mom and dad.

I'm glad I  had my quilting time from 1993 to 2006.  Learned enough to finish a quilt with pieces my mom had cut and basted.

Now the hobby is crochet which Martha taught me in 1948. It is a satisfying thing to do.

Sometimes I wish I had a cleaning lady because the sweeper is getting heavier and the Swiffer isn't doing a super job on the kitchen floor.

Thankful I'm still here because when I arrived they didn't give me much of a chance.

And thankful for my husband. For sixty-five years we have had a good life together, two sons,
two daughters-in-law and four granddaughters!  Life is good.

Menu for the Day After

Breakfast: one piece dry toast and a glass of water.

Lunch: vanilla milkshake

Dinner: (actually Supper here in the boonies) one piece dry toast, two cheese cubes, a hard boiled egg and one small piece of a brownie.

[One day without chocolate is about as long as I can go.]



So far, so good.

What is the Flu?

I read all the symptoms of the flu in the morning paper.

I have no fever, no cough, no headache, no body aches and pains; however I do have tiredness but I have that all the time.

So what do I have that I woke up with this morning?

Don't know but I'm taking it very easy today.

Conquering the Cold

A blogger friend made some cold weather masks which reminded me of a couple I made last year.

Her goal was to stop the cold air from getting into the person's lungs. 

I guess the goal of these is to keep the face from freezing.

One could still drink, eat and maybe kiss somebody good-bye with this model.

Thanks, Far Side, for reminding me of this project!

Beetroot Chips

These are my new favorite chips.  A little salty but different!  I first saw them when the TX part of the clan brought some here at Thanksgiving. Thanks!

Oh yes. While at the store today, we got a big bargain on cheese. If you download a digital coupon from the store site, you could get five packages of cheese for ninety-nine cents each. I call that a bargain so we took advantage of that.

I also took care of my undercharge. A totally unintentional happening but we are now even. I'm sure they would never have missed $1.18 but I feel so much better.

A Long Day

Usually we make one trip to one destination per day. Today was much different. Two to the grocers, two trips to the clinic and one trip to the bank although I did make two entrances after returning from a consultation with the occupant of the van.

The bank was right, as usual.

I was wrong at the store.

I'm exhausted.

Nothing in Progress

Over the past year I have made several afghans. The last one was finished yesterday using a different color of left-over yarn in each row. I don't plan to buy any yarn for a while and just use more of the parts of skeins.

I did happen to see a free pattern for a pot holder that used a new (to me) stitch. It's a single crochet made in a different manner that makes a very thick layer of yarn. No lining necessary nor a double layer sewn together.


So here is the beginning of the new project.

Faucet Drip

With the colder temperatures, we have been letting at least one faucet drip to avoid frozen pipes.

In the small bathroom off our biggest bedroom, (technically the Master Bedroom) we have a faucet that always drips anyway. It must need a new washer. I told Lee that it was already dripping so we could just use that one to prevent frozen pipes!

Well, I went in to check and the darned thing was not dripping. Not a drop. I turned it on and shut it  off as I always did, pressing hard on the handle which never stopped it before.

We decided to use the one in the kitchen.

Another thing about that small bathroom which I used to call the Master Bath because it was near the Master Bedroom - it is actually called "en suite." The Master Bath is the large bathroom with a tub, shower, sink and toilet. The en suite has only a shower, sink and stool and the term means adjoining another room.

The things you learn on HGTV!

Frost on the Pane

We have lived here ten years and this New Year's morning with the temperature at minus 5 is the first time I have seen frost on any window.

(I had such a problem trying to load the picture that it showed itself twice - so I just left it.)

Today it was only 4 above. Progress!